Adopting Resilience, Fostering the Spirit of Creativity: The Voices of the Fostered and Adopted
🎨 SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!
November 13–15, 2026 | Electric Lodge, Venice, CA
Celebrating our 5th Celia Center Arts Festival.Apply today and share your voice through art, film, music, performance, and healing workshops.
The Celia Center Arts Festival is proud to announce that submissions are now open for our 5th Arts Festival, taking place November 13–15, 2026, at the Electric Lodge in Venice, California. We invite adoptees, foster youth, birth/first parents, adoptive and foster families, kinship caregivers, and professionals touched by foster care and adoption to share their stories through the transformative power of art.
What began as a dream in 2016 has grown into a vibrant movement of healing, connection, and creative expression. Over the years, the festival has featured powerful visual art exhibitions, films, spoken word performances, theater pieces, music, dance, and healing arts workshops all created by individuals whose lives have been shaped by foster care and adoption. From our inaugural festival in 2016 to our virtual gathering in 2021 and our most recent festival in 2024, hundreds of artists have courageously shared their experiences and inspired audiences through their creativity. Celia Center
As we celebrate our fifth festival, we honor the voices that have helped shape this community. Art has the unique ability to express what words alone often cannot. It creates space for grief, identity exploration, resilience, belonging, healing, and hope. Through creative expression, we witness the profound strength of individuals and families navigating the complexities of foster care and adoption.
The Celia Center Arts Festival was inspired by my own journey as a former foster youth and adoptee, and by discovering the artistic legacy of my first mother, Celia Barbosa, an artist connected to the Di Tella Foundation in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her creative spirit inspired me to build a platform where others could share their stories, reclaim their voices, and connect through the healing power of art. celiacenterartsfestival.org
We are currently accepting submissions in five categories:
• Performing Arts
• Creative Arts
• Music & Dance
• Film & Visual Arts
• Healing Arts Workshops
Whether you are a first-time artist or a seasoned professional, your story matters. We encourage artists of all backgrounds and experience levels to apply.
Submission Period: June 1 – September 30, 2026
Festival Dates: November 13–15, 2026
Location: Electric Lodge, Venice, California (celiacenterartsfestival.org)
This year’s festival theme remains at the heart of everything we do:
“Adopting Resilience, Fostering the Spirit of Creativity: The Voices of the Fostered and Adopted.”
Together, we create connection.
Together, we build understanding.
Together, we transform pain into purpose and stories into art.
We cannot wait to witness the extraordinary creativity, courage, and healing that will emerge from this year’s submissions.
Ready, Set, ART!
Submit your creativity and join us in celebrating our 5th Celia Center Arts Festival.
With love,
Jeanette Yoffe, M.A., LMFT
Founder, Celia Center & Celia Center Arts Festival